Join us this Spring for our popular Beginner Grow Your Own Package!
Here’s How It Works
- You decide what you would like to try to grow
- We start your seedlings off
- We send you regular video updates of their growth and how we care for them
- You take the plants home and continue their care (with our on-hand support)
- We share useful videos with you on topics like when to start picking
- You get to enjoy organic homegrown produce
- You can lay claim to growing your own food
Our Grow Your Own Package is ideal for complete beginners and children.
Grow Your Own 2022 Benefits Include:
- Growing Up-date Videos
- Supporting Local Essex Business
- Zero Waste Small Pot Return Scheme
- Easy to follow grow your own advice
- FREE carrot seed with every order
Grow Your Own 2022 for Kids
The Grow Your Own Package is really great for children. Children will benefit from:
- Growing Up-date Videos
- Outdoor learning and play
- Combating Nature Deficit
- Great for ‘fussy eaters’
- Understanding where food comes from
Available to Pre-order
Choose from our most popular fruits and vegetables.
Want to grow something different?
We’re here to help. Simply send us a message, tell us what you would like to grow at home and we’ll provide you with a tailored Grow Your Own 2022 quote.
FAQs
Below you’ll find the most commonly asked questions about our popular Grow Your Own Package and all the plants you can choose to grow within it.
1. What are Growing Up-date Videos?
We don’t want you to miss out on the fun of watching your seedlings grow. Once you purchase a Grow Your Own 2022 plant from The Natural Essex Girl, you’ll receive Growing Up-date Videos.
These are 4 short videos:
- 1 when your seed is planted
- 1 when it first bursts through the soil
- 1 when it is an established seedling
- 1 when it is transplanted from its mini pot to a small pot
Then, we’ll notify you when your plant(s) are ready for delivery and their new home with you.
2. Are you a local business?
Yes, we reside in Essex and our Grow Your Own Package is designed for local people in our area. We source our seeds and soil from local growers and merchants too. Thank you for helping us support local business whilst you support our local business.
We are a small, home based business. Please be patient with us as we work hard to fulfil your bespoke and specially grown order. We do not produce plants at mass scale. Love and care goes into every single order.
3. What is the Small Pot Return Scheme?
We use upcycled small plastic pots to grow and deliver your plants in. We don’t want these pots to go to landfill whilst they are still useful. Our Small Pot Return Scheme allows you to return your small pots to us ready for us to clean and reuse them next year.
All the pots we use are repurposed, preloved and upcycled in order to reduce our plastic footprint. They are a plastic that has already been made. When handled with care, these pots can last a long time and be used for multiple growing seasons, so please help us to lengthen their life time by taking part in our Small Pot Return Scheme.
Make your Grow Your Own 2022 journey completely zero waste with The Natural Essex Girl.
4. I’m a COMPLETE beginner. How much guidance will I receive?
Our Grow Your Own Package is ideal for complete beginners. When you make a purchase, you’ll receive Growing Up-date Videos. We will also add you to a closed Facebook Group where you will be able to see short, simple videos on how to transport your plant once you receive it, how to care for it and how to harvest from it.
Other ways we can support you as your Grow Your Own:
- Find heaps of helpful tips and advice on growing your own food on our Instagram and Facebook pages
- Enjoy a wealth of resources on our blog; everything from the gardening tools we use to the benefits of gardening
- Subscribe to our emails to see new blog posts as we publish them
As you go along, if you have any other questions, you can contact us using the Pre-order Page or send us a message on Instagram or Facebook.
5. I have limited space. Can I still purchase Grow Your Own 2022 plants?
Yes! Growing your own food can take place in small pots, a small garden, a balcony or sun filled window sill. You don’t need to have heaps of space to get started. We even offer Grow Your Own 2022 plants that are more suitable for growing specifically in pots.
NB. Please bear in mind that the smaller the area your seedlings end up in, the smaller the yield.
If you’re not sure about the space you have and which plants to choose for it, send us an email to info@thenaturalessexgirl.com. We want to help you grow your own food.
6. When is the best time to grow your own food?
This depends on the vegetable or fruit you wish to grow. If this is your first year of growing your own, we recommend picking one/some of our popular varieties listed on this page. We will take care of the right timing for you. We will start the seeds off when we know they will take and keep a close eye on their progress for you. When they are established plants ready to come to their new home, we will let you know.
Most seedlings take 8-12 weeks to be ready to transplant. We plant your order specially for you; we do not mass produce plants. Therefore, your seedling being ready will depend on when you place your order. Get started now using the Pre-order Page.
7. How long will my order take to receive?
Your order is unique and made just for you. Please be patient with us and the natural process of growing food. We can tell you that most seedlings take 8-12 weeks to be ready to transplant. Please bear in mind that we are working with Mother Nature and things don’t always go to plan.
We have chosen to work this way for a number of reasons. These include:
- Reducing waste
- Giving complete beginners and children a more personal Grow Your Own 2022 experience
- Offering Growing Up-date Videos
8. When will my Grow Your Own 2022 order be delivered?
Please be patient with us whilst we grow your order. Once your personal seedling is ready (roughly 8-12 weeks after it is planted), we will notify you and arrange a suitable delivery time.
We aim to group deliveries in a local area in order to reduce our carbon footprint. In order to assist us with this, if you know anyone else local to you placing an order at a similar time, please let us know and we will endeavour to coordinate your deliveries in order to reduce our carbon footprint.
9. What happens if something goes wrong?
Please bear in mind that when working with Mother Nature, things don’t always go to plan. Seeds can refuse to germinate, weather and soil conditions can cause unusual activity and small plants can die. Rest assured, if something happens to your seedling(s) we are here to help you grow your own food.
We run an Extra Seed Scheme at our own cost so if something goes wrong with your personal order whilst it is in our care, we can guarantee you the plant you ordered. Grow Your Own in 2022 with this guarantee.
When natural events like this happen, it is a great opportunity for complete beginners and children to learn about the unpredictability of Mother Nature and the adversity of growing your own food. We believe these are valuable lessons to learn.
10. Why is growing food great for children?
There are tons of reasons why growing food is excellent for children! To name a few:
- Mud play
- Water play
- Outdoor play
- Interaction with the elements
- Interaction with the seasons
- Nature play
- Outdoor exercise
- Bug education
- Pollinator education
- Understanding where food comes from
- Understanding the importance of outdoor green spaces
- Teamwork
- Delayed gratification
- Combatting Nature Deficit
In our experience, we have also found growing food to be particularly useful for ‘fussy’ eaters. Even if your child isn’t that interested in eating the food they grow this year, you can guarantee you will have sparked an interest within them that may help ‘fussy’ eaters going forward.
We have tailored our Grow Your Own Package to include Growing Up-date Videos. These will help your child understand the natural growth process and feel more connected with growing their own food.
11. Do I have to have a child to purchase a Grow Your Own 2022 package for complete beginners from The Natural Essex Girl?
Hell no! You don’t have to have (or be) a child to benefit from our Grow Your Own Package for complete beginners. We want to encourage all types of families to grow food at home.
If you are brand new to growing food and would like as much support as we would give to a young person, then these are the right plants for you. In fact, we actively encourage all beginners to enjoy the process as a child would – we’re a couple of big kids ourselves who love nothing more than playing in the dirt!
Thank you helping us to spread the word about the importance of access to growing food for all.
11. Where do you deliver to?
We currently deliver within the Essex area.
If you live on the border of Essex, please contact us to place an order. We will endeavour to provide our Grow Your Own Package to other nearby residents.
In order to help us lower our carbon footprint, we encourage friends and family to place orders together and/or notify us of your close proximity to someone placing an order this season. So get talking to those you love now about the Grow Your Own 2022 season.
12. How do I choose which food to grow?
It’s important to consider the space you have and what you like to eat. If you’re not sure if you have enough room for what you want to grow, or don’t know how many plants to order, email info@thenaturalessexgirl.com so we can assist you.
If you are growing food with children, we highly recommend picking the food they love and/or the food you would love for them to engage with more.
13. Why should I grow my own in 2022?
There are many benefits of growing your own food from home. You can read about some of our favourites in preperation for Growing Your Own in 2022 in this blog post: 13 Benefits of Gardening.
15. Do you sell other seeds and plants not listed on this page?
Yes, we can help you source the food you want to grow at home. We have taken the stress out of picking which plants to start off with for complete beginners. We have chosen the plants and seeds that we believe are the easiest to cultivate if you are brand new to gardening. These are also the most useful foods to enjoy in everyday life; for lunch, for snacks, for children.
But of course we can source different plants to the ones listed as well. Just reach out to us via email info@thenaturalessexgirl.com and let us know what you want to grow. We’ll even help you work out what you can grow in the space you have at home.
You can find more online support with growing your own food by following our Instagram or Facebook pages. You can also subscribe to our emails to keep up to date with new blog content where we feature grow your own tips and advice, our recommended gardening tools and recipes that you can create using the food you grow at home.
Got a question not covered here about the Grow Your Own 2022 season? Send us a question or your order request via our Pre-order Page.
A Healthier Happier Plant-Inspired Life 